# Royal Jamaican Cigar help



## kozzman555 (Sep 10, 2011)

Hey all, hoping the legendary cumulative wisdom of puff can help me out here. I just got my dad back into smoking cigars (Wewt!) and he is looking for something similar to what he used to smoke. He used to buy Royal Jamaican Churchill Minor's by the box (back when Royal Jamaica used Jamaican tobacco). Now the company is obviously defunct, but I'd like to find something close. Does anyone know of any Jamaican quality, long filler cigars that are available? Or, if not, something that would be similar in taste/strength. He also likes the Churchill Minor vitola as he doesn't want to devote 2hrs to smoking a cigar. Thanks for the help everyone! Happy holidays!


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## kansashat (Mar 13, 2004)

Royal Jamaican cigars used a flavoring agent in the manufacture of their cigars...I think it was bethune. It gave RJ's their signature flavor. Although I'm sure Jamaican tobacco is still used to some extent (I think the Reyes Family still uses it), I can't think of a Jamaican cigar, or a cigar that uses bethune in it's manufacturing process.

Good luck.


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## bucketheadd9 (Feb 10, 2011)

I have purchased Henry Morgan cigars which are hand made in Jamaica. They were good. I bought them there and have never seen them online anywhere. There is a Jamaican cigar company 

www(dot)cigarjamaica\(dot)com/
cant post links yet

Hope this helps


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## eventide (Mar 1, 2011)

Actually, Royal Jamaican cigars are still around and available through some online retailers. I don't know if they are still produced or if the blend is identical to the originals but JR cigars does carry them, they're called Royal Jamaican gold now.
ROYAL JAMAICA GOLD : J·R Cigars.com


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## kansashat (Mar 13, 2004)

eventide said:


> Actually, Royal Jamaican cigars are still around and available through some online retailers. I don't know if they are still produced or if the blend is identical to the originals but JR cigars does carry them, they're called Royal Jamaican gold now.
> ROYAL JAMAICA GOLD : J·R Cigars.com


I'm pretty sure this is a reblend & has little similiarity to the original.


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## Garu (Apr 3, 2008)

JR is sold out of RJ's and probably gone forever, however they do carry the below, and they are cheap (around $35 to $40). Never had one myself though. The are called RED DOT

ORIGIN: Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Costa Rica/Ecuador Habano BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Jamaica/Nicaragua
STRENGTH: Mild-Medium In an attempt to create a blend similar to that of the original Royal Jamaica brand, I contacted John Oliva to see if he could secure real Jamaican long-filler tobaccos. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find any, as very little leaf is grown there due to dreadful labor conditions. He did manage to get his hands on some excellent short-filler tobaccos though. And so, we introduced the Red Dot line. 

Handcrafted with an outstanding blend of short-filler tobaccos (50% Jamaican and 50% Nicaraguan visos), a smooth binder, and your choice of either a handsome, brown Ecuador Habano wrapper or a dark Costa Rica-grown maduro, this is as close as we’re ever gonna get to duplicating those old-time Royal Jamaicans! These beauties offer a creamy, rich, mild-to-medium-bodied smoking experience.


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## Damselnotindistress (Aug 7, 2011)

Garu said:


> JR is sold out of RJ's and probably gone forever, however they do carry the below, and they are cheap (around $35 to $40). Never had one myself though. The are called RED DOT
> 
> ORIGIN: Nicaragua
> WRAPPER: Costa Rica/Ecuador Habano BINDER: Nicaragua FILLER: Jamaica/Nicaragua
> ...


I've had that Red Dot cigar from JR Cigar. It was really, really flavorful and aromatic. A very nice smoking experience. The cigarjamaica.com place John was speaking of is from Barrington Intl. Cigar company. They specialize in Jamaican cigars. They have a Jamaican puro, all vintage reserve Jamaican tobacco called Santa Cruz. There's also Adducci cigars that sell Jamaican tobacco cigars. I've had occasion to talk w/Mr. Adducci and Mr. Barrington by phone. Mr. Barrington actually sent me a few Santa Cruz cigars to try. I've ordered his Pride of Jamaica Crystals which feature Jamaican, Cameroon, Mexican and Connecticut tobaccos. That should get you to a few solid Jamaican tobacco sources.


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## superman0234 (Sep 27, 2011)

The cigars from cigarjamaica.com sound extremely interesting. I'd be down for a 5er or 10 pack if anyone wants to split a box. Let me know!


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## DarrelMorris (Feb 7, 2012)

Wow. The depth of knowledge on this forum never ceases to amaze me.


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## GeeRawkz (Sep 1, 2012)

Actually discovered a bunch of Royal Jamaica cigars in an attempted humidor / storage box that I picked up from an estate sale had posted it elsewhere on the forum to get some info on them. I am currently attempting to revive the lot of them at the moment actually:









Actually a decent amount similar to the picture above.


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## Damselnotindistress (Aug 7, 2011)

*Hey folks on this thread; Barrington Intl. aka Jamaican Cigars | Barrington House Jamaican Cigars | Premium Jamaican Cigars now has their Jamaican puro (all straight Jamaican tobacco) cigars, the Santa Cruz, available in 5 packs now. MUCH cheaper than their $200+ per box cost!


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## cigarmax (Feb 23, 2011)

kansashat said:


> Royal Jamaican cigars used a flavoring agent in the manufacture of their cigars...I think it was bethune. It gave RJ's their signature flavor. Although I'm sure Jamaican tobacco is still used to some extent (I think the Reyes Family still uses it), I can't think of a Jamaican cigar, or a cigar that uses bethune in it's manufacturing process.
> 
> Good luck.


Indeed. The tobacco used in Royal Jamaica cigars was treated with bethune which gave them a sweet flavor. So looking for cigars with all Jamaican tobacco won't recreate this flavor profile as most of the filler in Royal Jamaicans was Dominican and the unique flavor came from the bethune. I would suggest your dad try a Dominican cigar with a maduro wrapper i.e. a Fuente, to get as close to this flavor as possible.
P.S. Twenty years ago these were one of my favorites as well.


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## gscottfuller (Nov 8, 2012)

This thread is close to my heart. I used to love RJ's -- smoked them for 4-5 years back in the 70's and it was my favorite at the time. I too have been on a quest to find something close to the nutty, cedary flavor of those sticks. I have not tried some of the sticks discussed in this thread, but after trying hundreds of cigars, I have come to the conclusion that the closest you will find to RJ's are Domenican cigars with shade leaf wrappers. To my palate, these are the closest yet:

Davidoff #2
Ashton Classic


Good luck and please post if your Dad find's something he thinks is close to RJ's.


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## xenon (Dec 10, 2011)

I smoked a few of the Royal Jamacain cigars while in Jamaica on my honymoon........years ago.....


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## dutchjim (May 17, 2013)

I used to love the Royal Jamaica Park Lane. A good cigar. If I can, I will post a photo of RJ Park Lanes.


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## Damselnotindistress (Aug 7, 2011)

There's a new release of cigar called the Commodore which I've found in Mikes' Cigars catalog; Sumatra wrapper, Jamaican filler and Jamaican binder. I ordered a 5 pack sampler, large toro size, and have found there is some similarity to the Royal Jamaicans of old.


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## AlexArkansas (Jun 8, 2013)

Haven't tried them yet, but GL Pease talked up the new Mario Palomino's in one of his Cigar Chronicles columns.


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## Damselnotindistress (Aug 7, 2011)

AlexArkansas said:


> Haven't tried them yet, but GL Pease talked up the new Mario Palomino's in one of his Cigar Chronicles columns.


I've got a few of those Maria Palominas on hand, that and Island Cigars with a little Jamaican tobacco in them also available from Mike's Cigars. The Island Cigars come in barber pole, connecticut and maduro wrappers and are VERY affordable. The Maria Palominas are found in CI and Cigar.com


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